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Newcomers Give Champions League Exotic New Venues

By Benji Lanyado September 27, 2009 8:00 amSeptember 27, 2009 8:00 am

Four relatively unknown teams from remote corners of Europe will host their first UEFA Champions League group stage games. Debreceni VSC, Rubin Kazan, F.C. Unirea Urziceni and APOEL Nicosia are competing with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United for a share of more than $1.5 billion and the most coveted title in European club soccer.

F.C. Unirea Urziceni

Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty ImagesFC Unirea Urziceni won its first league title in the club’s 55-year history last season.

F.C. Unirea Urziceni opened its Champions League campaign with a 2-0 loss to Sevilla in the 45,000-seat Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, which could fit more than twice the population of Urziceni, a small market town in Romania’s southeastern plains.

Unirea won its first league title in the club’s 55-year history last season, only two years after winning promotion to the top division. The club’s Tineretului Stadium, nestled among vineyards on the outskirts of Urziceni, holds only 7,000 spectators, well below UEFA’s mandated minimum capacity, so the team will play Stuttgart on Tuesday at the Steaua Bucharest Stadium in the Romanian capital.

The fate of the club is interlocked with the aspirations of its manager, the national hero and former Chelsea fullback Dan Petrescu. After undistinguished managerial stints at Wisla Krakow in Poland and Rapid Bucharest, Petrescu arrived in Unirea in 2006 and went about overhauling the roster. Only one player remains from before Petrescu’s arrival.

Players to watch

Giedrius Arlauskis: The 21-year-old Lithuanian is one of the most promising young goalkeepers in Europe.

Vasile Maftei: The defensive lynchpin and former captain of Rapid Bucharest joined the club this summer.

Iulian Apostol: The active midfielder’s impressive performances for the club have made him a mainstay on the Romanian national team.

Rubin Kazan

Efrem Lukatsky/Associated PressAlejandro Dominguez scored Rubin Kazan’s only goal against Dynamo Kiev in the teams’ Champions League group stage game on Sept. 16.

Rubin Kazan, a club founded in 1958 in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, never played in the old Soviet league. By the time the new national league started in 1993, the club was playing in the third tier of Russian soccer. But 10 years later, Rubin reached the Russian Premier League and last season became only the third club outside of Moscow to win the title.

The team’s fortunes have been engineered by Manager Kurban Berdyev, who clutches his trademark prayer beads on the sideline. Last season, he used the veteran Sergei Rebrov, Andrei Shevchenko’s strike partner at Dyanmo Kiev, at midfield and Savo Milosevic, the top goal scorer in the 2000 European Championship, as a strategic substitute to win the Russian league in the club’s 50th anniversary season. Both players have since retired, and Rebrov, newly installed as Dynamo Kiev’s reserve team coach, watched from the sideline as Rubin lost its opening Champions League game, 3-1, in Kiev. A squad of relatively unknown players will face Inter Milan on Tuesday.

Players to watch

Sergei Semak: The club captain is a regular at midfield for Russia and was captain of the team during its impressive Euro 2008 campaign.

MacBeth Sibaya: The South African midfielder was acquired in 2003 after an unremarkable spell in Norway, and he has become one of the league’s most reliable players.

Alejandro Dominguez: The Argentine striker’s floundering career was revived following his switch from Zenit St. Petersburg. He has scored 13 goals in 17 games this season.

Debreceni

Bela Szandelszky/Associated PressDebreceni supporters celebrated in August the club’s qualification for the Champions League group stage.

The Hungarian league is ranked the 35th in Europe and teams from that far down the depth chart must battle through as many as four qualifying rounds to reach the group stage of the Champions League. For three consecutive seasons, the task proved too much for Debreceni, the Hungarian champion. But this year the club became the first Hungarian team to make it to the group stage in 14 years after new rules matched clubs from lesser leagues against one another, rather than forcing them to face teams from Europe’s top leagues. Debreceni defeated Kalmar of Sweden (ranked 24th), Levadia Talinn of Estonia (ranked 42nd) and Levski Sofia of Bulgaria (ranked 17th) to reach the group stages.

Debreceni is partially owned by the local government and Mayor Lajos Kosa is a life-long fan of his local club. But the team’s stadium is too small to host Champions League games and Debreceni will travel to the Puskás Ferenc Stadium in Budapest for its match against Olympique Lyon on Tuesday.

Players to watch

Laszlo Bodnar: The right fullback is known for his long-range goals.

József Varga: He scored three times in five starts in midfield during the Champions League qualification campaign.

Peter Czvitkovics: The speedy wing player was once courted by Inter Milan.

APOEL Nicosia

Of all the Champions League group stage newcomers, APOEL Nicosia’s opening-day performance was the most notable. An impressive effort by goalkeeper Dionisis Chiotis saw the Cypriot champion hold Atletico Madrid’s powerful attack to a 0-0 draw in Spain. On Wednesday night, APOEL will face a sterner test against the English club Chelsea.

Andreas Lazarou/Associated PressAPOEL Nicosia’s Kamil Kosowski scored to help defeat F.C. Copenhagen in the Champions League final qualifying round in August.

APOEL is the second Cypriot team in two seasons to reach the Champions League group stage. The club’s 3-2 aggregate victory over the Danish champion F.C. Copenhagen in the final qualifying round triggered wild celebrations in Nicosia and a jubilant pronouncement from the president of Cyprus.

The club, which was founded in a candy store in 1926, has become the most successful team in Cyprus after a number of political controversies. In 1948, the club banned players with left-wing political affiliations. Those players went on to found the rival club, Omonia Nicosia. In 1986, when the government prohibited APOEL from playing a European Cup game against a Turkish team, Besiktas, UEFA suspended the club from European competition for two years.

Players to watch

Dionisis Chiotis: The keeper will have to maintain his form if APOEL is to get results.

Constantinos Charalambidis: a dynamic midfielder who spent time in the Greek Super League and the German Bundeliga.

Kamil Kosowski: a wing player who has played over 50 times for his country, he scored the opener in APOEL’s second leg game against F.C. Copengahen.

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